Besides his documentary credits in more than 40 countries, Cunningham has also directed several feature films including To End All Wars (2001) and the TV miniseries The Path to 9/11 (2006).
As a child, Cunningham traveled around the world visiting orphanages, refugee camps, and many other isolated locations with his parents in their work with NGOs with the specific purpose of introducing people to Jesus.
His parents, Loren and Darlene Cunningham, ordained ministers in the Pentecostal Assemblies of God denomination, [1] are the founders of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and the University of the Nations,[2] an international, interdenominational Christian organization with campuses in over 100 countries with a special emphasis on education for the developing nations.
[5] In March 2000, Youth With A Mission students donated $14,000 in seed money toward his $14 million independent film To End All Wars[6][7] (p 176) Shot in Hawaii, Thailand, and Scotland, the film tells the true story of WWII allied prisoners in a POW camp in Thailand who secretly form a “jungle university” in the camp morgue.
[11] Cunningham directed the ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11, which dramatized terrorist activities and U.S. government responses from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing through the events of 9/11.
[17] The docu-drama was praised by conservative writer Davis Hanson as being "a well-crafted dramatic interpretation",[18] and condemned by critics for scenes which portrayed events they claim never occurred, and supported a story line which could lead viewers to incorrect conclusions.
[19][20] Official promotions of the film made varying claims about its factual basis: Fox TV on Sept 6, 2006, quoted the producers as saying the show was based "solely and completely on the 9/11 Commission report.
[23] The New York Times reported that Mr. Platt [the producer of Path to 9/11 and Hope Hartman, a spokeswoman for ABC, said "the political and religious affiliations of the two men (Cunningham and Nowrasteh, the writer) had nothing to do with and did not influence the mini-series in any way.
[30] In 2008, the Brazilian government officials said "the missionaries are exaggerating and exploiting the issue to justify their attempts to convert Indians to Christianity".